Bill prohibits coerced drugging of kids

An education political action committee is promoting a bill in Congress that would withhold federal school funds from states that do not prohibit the forced drugging of students with psychotropic medications.

The bill, H.R. 1790, sponsored by Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., requires that states establish policies and procedures that prohibit school personnel from requiring a child take the popular behavior-modification drugs.

Titled the “Child Medication Safety Act of 2005,” the legislation currently has 23 co-sponsors.

According to EdAction.org, psychotropic drugs are “over-prescribed,” and parents oftentimes are forced by school personnel to have their children take the medication if they are to stay in school.

“Many studies, some of them kept from physicians and the public for years, have shown that these medications are not at all effective in the long term,” said a statement from the organization.

EdAction asserts such medication has deleterious effects on children:

“The psychotropic medications, both on and off the controlled substances list, are far from benign; their side effects are rarely adequately explained to parents; and there are no studies defining their effects on the developing nervous systems of growing children, especially those under the age of 5 years.”

The political action committee also is pushing a bill sponsored by Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, H.R. 181, which would prohibit any federal funds from being used to establish or implement any universal or mandatory mental health screening program. The bill also would require that a parent’s refusal to consent to mental health screening programs could not be a basis of a charge of child abuse or education neglect.